water cooler MLT problems

so my first brew i used this for i had a lot of problems, it was emptying very, very slowly and then got completely clogged.

other than having to use a large grain bag every time is there anything i can do to fix this?

different size braided hose?

how fine was the crush of the grain? what was the grain to water mix?

mnadamn said:

how fine was the crush of the grain? what was the grain to water mix?

Click to expand...

grain went through a regular grinder at HBS once, used 1.25q per lb of grain

there are a couple things that can be causing this. Either you have too fine a crush, the grains you are using dont have husks (or not enough do) or the braided hose just might not be long enough. There are probably more things that can be happening, and I am sure that someone will chime in here but these are the things that I would look at first. Another thing to try is raise the mlt more and attach a longer hose, this will get a stronger siphon going

A picture of your braid would be helpful but here are some other questions:

1. Are you sure it's stainless steel mesh or could it be grey plastic?
2. When you removed the vinyl tubing from inside, did you put anything back in?
3. When you drain, do you have any hose/tubing on the output valve or is it just trickling out of the valve?

Some of those ss braids are weak. I use one that I got from Ace hardware and it is just not sturdy enough. The weight of the grain causes it to flex and pinch where it connects to my output and I get slow flow rates.

I'm switching to a slotted piece of copper pipe for my next brews and plan on making a sturdy square manifold down the road.

Stuck sparge......Pull out the manifold altogether and strain with a sock.......Re-invent the manifold for the next time.

I'm such a whore.

Sometimes just blowing air back in the tubing can cause enough back pressure to unstick the clog. I've done it successfully several times. If that doesn't work, change your gear, change your crush, or add rice hulls.

Bobby_M said:

A picture of your braid would be helpful but here are some other questions:

1. Are you sure it's stainless steel mesh or could it be grey plastic?
2. When you removed the vinyl tubing from inside, did you put anything back in?
3. When you drain, do you have any hose/tubing on the output valve or is it just trickling out of the valve?

Click to expand...

1. destroyed the braid trying to unclog it

2. yea i put the plastic o ring in there, followed the sticky on here to the T, cept doubled up on washers becuase it wasn't getting sealed enough.

3, used a regular plastic tube you get in the brewing kits, 1/8 i believe.


im thinking of just getting a super long braid and coiling it around the bottom so it will take more to clog the entire thing. It was getting clogged around the braid by my grain BTW not clogged inside. the tubing out of the output was maybe 1/4 full and moving pretty slow

mnadamn said:

there are a couple things that can be causing this. Either you have too fine a crush, the grains you are using dont have husks (or not enough do) or the braided hose just might not be long enough. There are probably more things that can be happening, and I am sure that someone will chime in here but these are the things that I would look at first. Another thing to try is raise the mlt more and attach a longer hose, this will get a stronger siphon going

Click to expand...

the grains had husks, the grinder at my lhbs was pretty good, im thinking it may have been too fine. no clue how to work around that though.

ScubaSteve said:

Sometimes just blowing air back in the tubing can cause enough back pressure to unstick the clog. I've done it successfully several times. If that doesn't work, change your gear, change your crush, or add rice hulls.

Click to expand...

why rice hulls? would i add that in the bottom first then my grains to act as a sort of gradient? does this affect taste or anything?

Glubki said:

Some of those ss braids are weak. I use one that I got from Ace hardware and it is just not sturdy enough. The weight of the grain causes it to flex and pinch where it connects to my output and I get slow flow rates.

I'm switching to a slotted piece of copper pipe for my next brews and plan on making a sturdy square manifold down the road.

Click to expand...

any way to work around the braid getting pinched without changing my whole set up? im thinking just a bit of copper tubing around that part to support it.

hmmm not the best handyman (but working on it lol) so i dont really know what you mean by a square manifold. would be great if you could post some pics of it when you do.

what kind of cooler is being used? braids seem to do better inside round coolers
how long was the tubing coming from the outflow spigot? longer works better by creating a siphon effect on the bottom of the grain bed


use enough braid to make a full circuit of the inside of your cooler and connect the ends together with a tee fitting

edit: rice hulls are mixed in with your regular grains after crushing, adds an extra bit of filtering material and doesn't affect anything else

Oligarchy said:

1. destroyed the braid trying to unclog it

Click to expand...

It sounds to me like it might have been plastic. If so, that's a common mistake with an easy solution.

Hope you get it figured out. A properly working braid is an incredible lautering device.

As much as I like the braid, I had problems with it after 4-5 brews. I decided to go with something that wouldn't get clogged unless I put 50# of grain on top of it, YMMV. 3/16 holes on the top, 1/8" holes on the sides and bottom:



EDIT: or maybe 3/16" holes on the sides? that's the torpedo ale talkin'

Oligarchy said:

any way to work around the braid getting pinched without changing my whole set up? im thinking just a bit of copper tubing around that part to support it.

hmmm not the best handyman (but working on it lol) so i dont really know what you mean by a square manifold. would be great if you could post some pics of it when you do.

Click to expand...

Square Manifold = One just like in the link below but on a smaller scale...

Mash Tun Manifold | Transistors and Beer

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

Stuck sparge......Pull out the manifold altogether and strain with a sock.......Re-invent the manifold for the next time.

I'm such a whore.

Click to expand...

Well, since you brought it up......

awesome thanks for the help, gonna try the T-braid first then the copper pipe if its still buggin me